The Bankex shed over 4% finally to 7,485.
ICICI Bank plunged nearly 6% to Rs 654.
IDBI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce slipped over 5% each to Rs 94, Rs 569 and Rs 160, respectively.
HDFC and SBI shed over 3% each.
_________________________________________________________
(Updated at 1442 hrs)
The BSE Bankex has continued to underperform since the announcement of the Union Budget on July 6, 2009. The Bankex has lost 12.7% from its high on Budget day against the Sensex's decline of 7.9% at 1435 hours.
The index had been an outperformer in the past few months. In the last month itself, the Bankex rose 10.7% from its low of 7,741.36 on June 9, to touch the month's high of 8,575.04 on June 29.
However, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's decision to continue regulation in the banking and financial sector as well fears of high interest rates as a result of an all-time high fiscal deficit this year, led to the Bankex crashing 8% on Budget day.
On Wednesday, the index has slipped another 3.2% to 7,556.24 at 1435hrs. Earlier in the day, it had fallen to a low of 7,417, but has recovered partially.
Among banking stocks, Canara Bank has slumped 6.6% to Rs 247. The country's second-biggest lender, ICICI Bank has dropped 4.6% to Rs 663.
More From This Section
HDFC Bank has shed 3% to Rs 1,381. SBI is down 2.7% at Rs 1,592.
Bank of India, Kotak Bank and IDBI Bank have slipped around 4% each. Other losers include Oriental Bank of Commerce, Federal Bank and Allahabad Bank.
Meanwhile, IndusInd Bank has gained 8% to Rs 84. Punjab National Bank is up 2% at Rs 639.